Politics

‘I could point you to communities where Sinn Féin works hand in glove with gardaí’ – Mary Lou McDonald

With Sinn Féin riding high in the polls, and facing the prospect of being in government after the next election, the party leader insists she has what it takes to be Taoiseach

Mary Lou McDonald: ‘Little did we know that war would happen in Ukraine, that we would be into this once-in-several generations cost of living crunch and inflationary spiral. So, yeah, it’s been hectic.’ Picture: Fergal Philips

Mary Lou McDonald has been reflecting on her “roller-coaster year” as leader of Sinn Féin.

It was in some regards a breakthrough year for Sinn Féin, with the party overtaking the combined support of both Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil in Business Post/Red C tracking polls for the first time.

But it was also a turbulent one. McDonald, like most people, had expected that things would have settled down a bit after the lifting of ...